First cycle track with solar rooftop in Hyderabad shows India’s go-green spirit

Following South Korea, now India too has a solar rooftop covered cycle track in Hyderabad, Telangana. The first of its kind in India, the Hyderabad Cycling Track or Healthway – country’s longest — was inaugurated by K.T. Rama Rao, Minister for Municipal Administration and Urban Development on Sunday night.

The 23-km-long cycle track which will be open 24×7 from today, has two lines. The pink line runs from Nanakramguda and Telangana State Police Academy Circle and it is 8.5 kilometres long. The second one is the blue line which is from Narsingi hub to Kollur and its length is 14.5.

The track has a width of 4.5 metres with three dedicated bicycle lanes which are covered by green spaces on either side. Out of the 23-km-long stretch 21 km is covered with 16,000 solar panels that are installed on the roof of the track and has an installed capacity of 16 MW.

Addressing the people at the event, Rama Rao said: “The power generated will save electricity expenditure for the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority. The 16 MW power translates to 32,000 street lights or 800 km of street lighting. To generate this power, we would otherwise require 52 acres of land.” He added that the cost of the solar panels will be recovered in six years.

There are five access points or bicycle stations and these are located at Nanakramguda, TSPA Junction, Narsingi, Kollur Junction, and Vattinagulapally. These access points/stations will offer several amenities to people including car and bicycle parking, food stalls, cycle repair, rental stations, first aid stations, rest areas and state-of-the-art signalling.

To make more and more people, including those who don’t own bicycles, take up cycling, multiple bicycle rental agencies will be coming up soon, while the health, food and retail kiosks have already been finalised to provide the users a wholesome experience.

That is not all, in the coming days, the Government intends to introduce more sporting amenities like skating rinks, tennis and badminton courts etc at Narsingi hub. This will be part of Phase 2 of the plan.

The lighting of the track has been aesthetically positioned to make the cityscape look picturesque and allow the cycles to use the track throughout the day.

To ensure the safety and security of the users, CCTVs have been positioned on the track and these are connected to the Cyberabad Police command centre for 24×7 monitoring.

During his address, the Minister also said that several more cycling lanes will be set up in the Financial District, Neopolis area and in the newly-launched Budvel cluster.  He added that lifestyle diseases are plaguing the country and cycling he said is one of the solutions to get over this problem.

Also read: India’s first solar roof cycle track to be thrown open in Hyderabad on Aug 15